


watercolor

by theformerone



Series: sukeban 'verse [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clan Politics, Gen, Hyuuga Clan Centric, Kid Fic, Mentions of past child abuse, Sunagakure | Hidden Sand Village
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21711061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theformerone/pseuds/theformerone
Summary: The Sand Siblings come over for a painting lesson.
Series: sukeban 'verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561933
Comments: 15
Kudos: 215





	watercolor

The room is bright and sunny; it's something that makes Neji squint his eyes every morning. There are thick curtains to keep out the light. Rasa-sama had said they were a necessity, considering the eye sensitivity of the younger children. 

Neji didn't know what that meant, but today at least, it isn't so bright that it hurts to see. It actually looks very cheerful. Their living room is set up with easels and canvas, and jewel toned paints are all over the room. 

His mother stands in the middle of it all, dropping a smock over her head, and tying it back around her waist. Her long brown hair is swept up into a bun, like she usually does when she's cooking. She turns around, smiling at him, offering her hand. 

Neji stumbles forward to take it. He hadn't spoken much since they resettled in Suna. Iroha-kun and Tokuma-kun have been cleared to start their education at the academy, while the older shinobi have been slowly incorporated into the general corps. They won't be doing any more than D-rank weather tracking missions, but even those are enough to bring plenty of money back home. Their Hyūga eyes were more accurate than any manmade scope, Hide-ojii-sama said so. 

He wraps one arm around her leg, bunching up as much of her skirt that he can carry so he can hold her. His mother drops her other hand to rest on top of his head and says, "We're going to have some visitors today, Neji-kun."

Neji looks up at her. Her grey-purple eyes have a big black hole in the middle, a hole that Neji's eyes don't have. It's what makes him and his cousins special, Haia-obaa-sama said. But other people could be special in other ways. Like how his mother can use her paints to make the house safe, or to keep meals warm until everybody gets home. How with ojii-sama and obaa-sama's help, she had taken the seals off of everyone's foreheads. 

The seal isn't black ink anymore, but the scar underneath the ink and blood remains. The cousins that have mastered the art of cosmetics are already experts at covering the scars of the others who want them disappeared. Iroha-kun wears his bandanna far back enough on his face that it only covers his hair. He doesn't seem bothered if people see his scar or not. His mother says that's because he's a little older, and having the scar means something different to everybody. 

Neji keeps his covered because it startles him when he looks in the mirror. The first time he passed by a mirror at night to go to the bathroom, he had run straight for his mother's, and had burrowed deep into her bed before his instincts could tell him he was too big to do things like this anymore. 

But his mother had only reached out her warm hand and pulled him closer. She didn't say that Neji was six now, so he had to deal with things that frightened him on his own, otherwise he would never be a shinobi worthy to wear the Hyūga name. She doesn't call him a disgrace and form a seal with her two fingers and scowl at him because he made a mistake. 

She brings him close to her, and kisses the top of his head when he latches onto her like he's drowning. She rubs circles on his back until he falls asleep, and when he wakes up in the morning, she still is. She's still there. 

"Who, okaa-san?" he asks, looking up at her still. 

"Some kids your age," she replies, drawing the back a finger down his cheek. "Their father has asked me to give them some lessons. Is that alright?"

Neji knows it's not for him to decide what his mother is allowed to do or not allowed to do. Even Hide-ojii-sama and Haia-obaa-sama couldn't do that, though they could advise her. His mother was the head of the Hōrō-sha Hyūga. She decided how things were done. Her word was law. 

Still. It's kind of nice to be asked. Back before, his mother and father always asked him what he wanted for dinner, or what he wanted to play, but only when they were inside their private home. Outside, anything less than total deference to his father, _then_ his mother was considered obscene. 

Children were caned for it. All the younger ones were made to watch, so they understood. Obedience to their parents. Obedience to the clan. 

"Can we have cold soba for lunch, please?" 

His mother steps out of his grasp so that she can crouch down onto his level. Gently, she presses her forehead against his; a Hyūga kiss. She leans back, then kisses the spot where underneath his little grey bandanna, his scar is hidden. 

"Absolutely," she says, "with extra sesame oil and green onions."

A grin splits Neji's face, and he reaches forward to tap his forehead against hers, Hyūga kissing her back. 

The doorbell rings, but Neji doesn't jump. He's proud of himself for that. It was only one more year before he was old enough to leave Suna's primary school, and enter Suna's shinobi academy. Back before, on the compound, Neji had already trained day and night since he was old enough to stand and squint. 

His mother has pulled back his training considerably, but Neji is still up before dawn with his cousins, flexing his Byakugan on the horizon, on the stars. He likes staring at the moon best. Tsukuyomi was the god of the Hyūga, and the views in Suna are perfect for seeing his scarred face. 

Sometimes, when his mother doesn't have to be up so early for her work, she joins the rest of them on the roof, and she'll tell stories about the constellations, myths about the moon and his sister, Amaterasu, the god of their cousins, the Uchiha. 

Back before, Neji had been taught that the Uchiha were fetid jutsu-stealing fiends, who only gained their Copy-Wheel Eye by being born of defective Hyūga stock. He had been told it was a shame that children born without the Byakugan had been left at the base of their ancestral mountains for the wild dogs to eat; it had been at the base of that same mountain where Uchiha monks had rescued those infants. 

Neji knows that part of the story now that he's left that place. He kind of wishes the Uchiha would come to Suna, too. Neji had seen their compound. It was just as walled up as the Hyūga one was. Maybe they should've come with them. 

"I'll go get that," his mother says, rising and smoothing the sides of her skirts where they bunched up. "Put on your smock, Neji-kun, and pick your easel. I'd like it if you joined us. It's been some time since we've painted something together."

Neji's mouth purses. He does like painting with his mother, but he's not sure about doing it with other people watching. 

He obeys, though, and picks up his dark green smock. He shimmies it over his head and punches his arms through the sleeves while his mother answers the door. 

"Yashamaru-san, it's so good to see you again. Are you the chaperone today?"

"Yes, Nozomi-san, we are all in your care this afternoon!"

"Do come in, there are enough slippers for you all," the door shuts and Neji turns around, flexing his eyes, and peering through the living room wall into the hall. "Would you like some cherry juice? Or apple tea?"

"Ah, water for me and Gaara-kun, thank you, Nozomi-san. You have a lovely home."

"Cherry juice, please!"

"Me too, me too!"

"Temari-chan, Kankurō-kun, why are you shouting in Hyūga-sama's home?"

Temari is the blonde girl, and she's the biggest of the three of them. Kankurō is the dark haired one, who just stopped bouncing on his heels after being chastened. The third is a little redhaired boy that's only a little smaller than Neji. He's holding a teddybear, and Yashamaru-san's hand. 

"It's quite alright, they're excited. They're only children. I'll go get that juice, and the rest of you can get settled in the living room." 

Neji's mother starts leading them down the hall, and Neji shuts his eyes and counts backward from nine. By the time he opens his eyes again, the other kids and Yashamaru-san are turning into the room. 

"Hello," Neji says, because he was taught to be polite. 

Yashamaru-san smiles at him, nodding his head. 

"You must be Neji-kun," he says. "Your mother speaks so fondly of you, I feel like we've already met. I'm Yashamaru, and these are Temari-chan, Kankurō-kun, and Gaara-kun, my niece and nephews."

Neji nods slowly; so Gaara was the third one's name. He only looks up at the sound of his name, and at the sound of footsteps coming back down the hall. Yashamaru takes a seat on the couch, and Gaara follows. Temari and Kankurō start poking their noses into everything. They stare at the brushes and the paints assembled, ooh-ing and ahh-ing as they do it. Neji thinks it's pretty rude. 

But then there's his mother, holding a tray with a pitcher of cool water, chilled sour cherry juice, and six cups. The cups from the kitchen are smooth on the sides, but the cups for painting were studded, so you could feel the difference before accidentally drinking paint water. 

Neji had never done it, but he had stifled his own giggles when his father did it to make his mother laugh. 

His mother doles out the beverages into each glass after setting the tray down on the coffee table, and Temari and Kankurō pick up their cups and start slurping cheerfully. Gaara looks up to Yashamaru before setting his bear down in his lap to pick up his cup of water and sipping it quietly. 

"Thank you for your hospitality, Nozomi-san," Yashamaru says. 

"Don't think of it," she replies. She strolls across the room, to Neji, who reaches for her with one hand. She's in slippers, and the long dark pants the wears under her tunic's skirt are soft to the touch. Neji moves his hand down when he accidentally brushes it against the kunai holster she wears under her trousers, strapped to her leg. "I thought it would be a good idea if Neji-kun joined us today. I hope you don't mind." 

"Not at all," Yashamaru shakes his head. "It's good for Gaara-kun to be around other children his age. And it's good for Temari-chan and Kankurō-chan to see what well behaved young shinobi look like."

Neji knows that it's meant as a compliment, but it only makes him think of getting his knuckles swatted by Hotaru-obaa-sama with a bamboo stick cut from her garden. She always made them feel worse about making her go and cut one of her plants to discipline them. 

Neji ducks a bit behind his mother, lips pursed. The look on Yashamaru's face changes, his smile melting into worry. Neji feels a hand fall onto his head, grounding him, steadying him. Reminding him he's not _there_ anymore. 

"Neji-kun is a sweet boy," she replies. "I'm very lucky to have him. Now, Temari-chan, Kankurō-kun, how about you two pick your smocks and your easels, and we can get started?"

* * *

"Whadda we have to paint?" Kankurō asks. 

Neji's mother hums in thought, tapping her finger on her chin. 

"Something from your bedroom," she settles on. "Something that you know very well. Your favorite toy, or a book you like to read. Your bed, or your window, or your curtains. Something like that."

Kankurō nods once then sticks his thumb out and shuts one of his eyes like he's trying to get the scale right. Neji knows he's only showing off. 

Temari kicks her legs from under her stool, her palette in her hand as she starts painting two thin black lines onto her canvas. 

"What's this s'pposed to teach us, Nozomi-sensei?" she asks, tilting her head so she can see who she's speaking to. 

Neji's mother is standing with her own much larger canvas, working on a watercolor. It's all little jabs and broad swaths of color. She's painting a lightning storm over a desert canyon. The lightning is white at the middle and purple on the outside. It's the same as the new Hōrō-sha Hyūga seal, a white flame on a purple circle. Neji thinks it's pretty. The seal is on his mother's back, large and exposed where her apron doesn't cover. 

"Do you know what fuinjutsu is, Temari-kun?" she asks. 

Temari seems to preen at the use of the masculine suffix, and puts her chin to her hand to think. 

"That's what the big barriers are that come over the village when really bad dust storms hit, I think." 

"Very good, Temari-kun," Neji's mother answers. "Barrier seals are a kind of fuinjutsu. Fuinjutsu is the ninja art of seal-making. It originated in Whirlpool Country, in a village called Uzushiogakure."

"Didn't they all die?" Kankurō asks, almost hacking at the canvas with the aggression of his brushstrokes. He's painting a doll, Neji thinks. 

"Not all of them," Nozomi gently corrects, "but a great many yes. Those that survived relocated elsewhere, and spread the art of fuinjutsu around the world. That's how I learned it."

"Are you gonna teach us how to make barrier seals, Nozomi-sensei?" Temari asks, shooting up off of her stool and bouncing on her toes at the option. 

"I'll teach you to make all sorts of seals, Temari-kun," she replies. "But you'll have to sit down and finish this project first before we can get there."

"Yes ma'am!" 

Temari hops back onto her chair and focuses so hard on her canvas that her tongue blips out between her lips. Neji looks back at his own canvas, where he's painting the wooden toy sparrow his Hide-ojii-sama had carved for him for his fifth birthday. 

"Painting is very similar to fuinjutsu," his mother continues. "You have to focus, but you also have to be able to improvise."

"What's 'improvise' mean?" 

Their heads turn to Gaara sitting on the couch beside his uncle. He hasn't moved since he arrived, except to quietly request more water, then to put his cup down and hold onto his bear.

"It means to think on your feet, Gaara-kun," Yashamaru answers. 

"Exactly," Nozomi continues. "Being able to make things up as you go. All sorts of accidents happen in life, like in paintings, and even in fuinjutsu. Being a fuinjutsu master means you can turn any mistake into a success. You have to have a very big imagination to be a fuinjutsu master." 

"I have a big 'magination!" Kankurō says. 

"Do not," Temari snipes. 

"Do so!"

"Do not."

"Do so!"

"Do not!"

"Temari-chan, Kankurō-kun," Yashamaru says, his voice cutting between the squabbling siblings. "If you cannot behave for your lessons, you will not be permitted to continue them. Understand?"

Temari pouts and Kankurō ducks his head. 

"Sorry," he grumbles. 

"I'm sorry, Nozomi-sensei."

The two of them go back to painting and Neji focuses on trying to put two little pink spots on the sparrow's cheeks, like his ojii-sama had. 

"Can I improvise too?" 

Gaara's voice is smaller than Neji expects it to be. Raspy, like he doesn't speak a lot. Or like he has nightmares. Neji understands that. 

"Would you like to, Gaara-kun?" Yashamaru asks. 

Gaara looks at his uncle and then at Nozomi, then he cuts his eyes down to the floor. 

"Can I, please?" 

"Yes, of course, Gaara-kun," Nozomi says. She puts down her own brushes and palette, and smooths her hands down her apron to catch any paint. "Here, let me get a smock for you."

She picks up another green one, one that Neji had only recently outgrown. Gaara eases his way off the couch and gently sets his teddybear on it to wait. 

"Shall I help you, Gaara-kun?" 

Gaara looks confused. He looks from Neji's mother to Yashamaru, like he's worried something terrible will happen. He takes a step forward, tentatively lifting his arms so that Neji's mother can slide the smock over his head. 

As she stars, a jolt seems to go through the room. Sand, dusty and brown as the sand that beats against the windows in storm season seems to jump out from Gaara. They're in hardened little needles that try to rip through Nozomi's clothing. One cuts her cheek, and another gets stuck in her arm. The rest hit the walls and ceiling. 

Kankurō ducks to the ground immediately. Temari leaps off of her seat and grabs Neji's arm, yanking him to the floor as well. 

"What's happening?" Neji asks, and Temari slams a hand over his mouth to stop him talking. She looks back at her littlest brother, trying to see if she's gotten his attention. 

Nozomi stops for a moment, and Neji can hear when Gaara starts sniffling, then when he starts crying. Neji's mother takes in a slow breath, then she starts humming. 

" _Where did the baby go? I lost him while I was putting on his clothes,_ " she sings, still moving the shirt over Gaara's head, and helping the sleeves up his arms when they get bunched up.

" _Where did the baby go? I think I've found him here!_ " Nozomi sings, tapping her finger against Gaara's nose. He stops crying, confused by the touch, then his face completely blanches when Nozomi sings, " _Oh, hello!_ " and tickles his belly. 

Temari stops breathing. Neji doesn't know what the big deal is. When he had trouble putting on his formal black bodysuit back before, his mother would sing that song to him, too. Only she would Hyūga kiss him after tapping his nose, not tickle him. 

Gaara seems just as confused by the gesture, but Nozomi tickles him again, and a shy smile breaks over his face. The sand needle still lodged in Nozomi's arm breaks away bit by bit, and so do the ones in the walls. They fall to the ground and find Gaara again. 

Nozomi wipes away her blood with her apron, then takes Gaara's hand and leads him to an easel on Neji's other side. 

"Now," she says, "what would you like to paint, Gaara-kun?"

* * *

"Do you think you'll be able to do it?" 

"I got a very cursory feel with how quickly it had to be done. He definitely should not have been sealed while still in his mother. He shouldn't have been sealed _at all_."

"I agree. But do you think you'll be able to help him?" 

"Yes, I think so. If I can't alter the one on his stomach, I can at least supplement it with something elsewhere on his body." 

"I don't think he would sit for a procedure of that kind." 

"He sat for class well enough. Rasa-sama wanted Temari-kun and Kankurō-kun to be able to defend themselves and the village from him should he go berserker. If I recall correctly, Gaara-kun wasn't supposed to be here today."

"We all take risks for those we love, Nozomi-san. I know you understand that."

"You have nothing to fear from me, Yashamaru-san."

"Can I bring him back?"

"Yes, but only with the others. Your mission is to test how well Gaara-kun controls the Ichibi, not to help him do it."

"They enjoyed your lessons. I think Temari-chan likes Neji-kun. He's quieter than Kankurō-kun."

"Then we can keep a standing weekly lesson. Kankurō-kun shows aptitude, and Temari-kun's fan painting shows promise. Once they're in the academy, it might be harder to keep their schedule - ,"

"Please, Nozomi-san. Let me worry about that. I can keep bringing them to you until those two are masters and Gaara-kun is healed."

"He won't be healed, per se. I can give him a measure of control. That's what juinjutsu does. Right now, his seal is like a dripping radiator. Quiet one moment, spitting steam the next. The seal he needs will be like giving him a relief valve, at least until he can learn control as a shinobi."

"He was so young when he was sealed the first time, so young the seal doesn't manifest on his body. It's on his bones. When I said I didn't think he'd sit for another procedure, I meant he probably can't. The pain would be - ,"

"Then we don't make it a procedure. We make it part of a lesson. A face-painting class. Kankurō-kun wants to join the Puppet Corps when he's older. Temari-kun likes an excuse to make a mess. Do you know any words that are important to Gaara-kun? Does he have a favorite one yet? One with kanji complex enough that I could work a seal into the lines?" 

"I know just the one."

**Author's Note:**

> hōrō-sha hyūga means 'wanderer hyūga' if google translate is as reliable as he always is. now that they live in suna, they have the same rights as the nomadic tribes that make up the village, meaning, they can legally nope the fuck out of suna whenever they deem fit. these folks live under tyranny NO MORE. they've differentiated themselves from the main family in konoha. with their new family crest and everything :")
> 
> this is a two year time skip between 'omens of downfall'. neji was 4 when his father died, 6 here. gaara is 6 here, kankuro 7, temari 8. i love them. 
> 
> it's hilarious that the first two parts of this fic are neji centric when the actual fic coming in february is hinata centric lol 
> 
> wow i wonder what yashamaru's asked nozomi to do to gaara's seal..... guess we'll find out in february see y'all then


End file.
